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Rebel Wilson has just been awarded Australia's highest-ever defamation payout, after successfully suing Bauer Media over a series of defamatory articles.

In a stunning decision, a Supreme Court judge claimed the extent of Wilson's defamation was "unprecedented" and warranted substantial damages - to the tune of more than NZD$4.9 million - after the jury found articles published in Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly, New Weekly and OK! unfairly painted her as a serial liar who'd faked her way to Hollywood.

It's a huge financial blow to Bauer - especially considering lawyers for the Pitch Perfect star claim that before the trial, she had offered to settle for $200,000.

But now they're paying more than twenty times that sum in an extraordinary Australian legal first. Why?

According to Peter Coggins from Shine Lawyers, it all comes down to Wilson's celebrity status.

"We haven't really had such a high-profile candidate run a defamation claim all the way to a trial like this - traditionally in Australia, defamation awards have been quite low, or often they're settled out of court," he explained.

"This case had a high-profile plaintiff - and it had a defendant in Bauer Media that really dug its heels in right until the very end - they took the risk and came out on the wrong side."

In the judge's ruling, it was pointed out that Bauer Media had deliberately capitalised on the much-hyped release of Pitch Perfect 2.

"They were essentially riding on the back of her success, and the frenzy that was with that movie then extended to these articles.

"The judge made a lot of comment about that - particularly in terms of their maliciousness."

While Wilson had originally said she'd missed out on specific roles (Trolls and Kung Fu Panda) as a result of the defamation, she walked away from that claim before the trial and developed a "trajectory" argument - meaning she figured out how much work she'd lost based on how her career had been tracking before it nosedived.